Case Study: Life Insurance Company achieves 2-day underwriting turnaround and 55%+ straight-through processing with Appian

How digitizing new business and medical underwriting enables increased straight though processing of quotes

A multinational insurer aiming to become the largest writer of term life faced the dual challenge of growing broker engagement and protecting margins while scaling volume. Core systems existed for medical underwriting, rating and policy administration, but manual handoffs via spreadsheets and email created bottlenecks that slowed quoting, reduced straight-through processing and limited throughput.

They implemented Appian’s low-code platform to centralize quote requests, automate appetite and routing rules, and integrate data across systems. The changes delivered dramatic results: straight-through processing rose from 7% to 55%+, turnaround fell from 14 days to 2, and capacity grew from 10 to 600 applications with the same staff—while giving real-time pipeline visibility and positioning the business for continuous digitization.